Free Pursued (The Diamond Tycoons 2) by Tracy Wolff Page A

go to hell and take her newspaper with her, he said, “I’ll courier over that information to you right away. In the meantime, you can email or fax a copy of that article to my office.”
    “We are under no obligation to do so, Mr. Durand.” Her voice was firm, with absolutely no uncertainty whatsoever. Which seemed impossible to him considering the claims she was making—and the proof he had to refute them.
    Who was her source? he wondered again. He went through a list of all the employees who had left recently and couldn’t think of one who would do this—or who
could
do this. All of them had left on good terms, and not one of them had access to the kind of information that would convince the
Times
to run such a negative story. Largely because that information didn’t exist, but still. If it did, no way any of them would have been able to access it.
    “You may not be under any obligation, Darlene, but you’re going to do it anyway. Because if you don’t, my attorneys will be filing for injunctions today against your paper, you and the reporter who wrote this drivel. And if you run this article as is, without getting to the truth of the matter, I will sue you. By the time we’re done, Bijoux will own the
Los Angeles
Times
and all of your assets. Now, you have until eleven o’clock to provide me with a copy of that article. Or the Los Angeles civil court system will be hearing from us.”
    He hung up the phone without giving her the chance to say another word. He’d heard more than enough.
    For long seconds, Nic could do nothing but stand there, staring into space and imagining the worst-case scenario if this thing went to print. Bijoux would lose everything it had gained under Marc and Nic’s leadership. They’d be crucified in the press—and in the international human rights community. They’d be sued by God only knew how many consumer groups and diamond retailers. And they’d be investigated by numerous federal and international law agencies. Not to mention the fact that if any of that happened, it would break his brother’s heart.
    Which was why Nic was going to make sure that it didn’t. He and Marc had worked too hard to build up this company after they’d taken it over ten years before. They’d faced their father’s disapproval, their board’s disapproval. Hell, even the industry had frowned on Marc and Nic’s determination to use only responsibly sourced diamonds.
    In the interim years, the industry had grown much more supportive of what he and his brother were doing—largely because of the growing interest from human rights groups in places like Sierra Leone and Liberia. New laws had been passed making trading in conflict diamonds illegal, but just because it was illegal didn’t mean that less reputable companies didn’t still buy up conflict diamonds. It only meant they did it in secret instead of on the open market as they used to.
    He and Marc did not do that. They did not buy conflict diamonds. They didn’t work with anyone who dealt in conflict diamonds. And they sure as hell didn’t cover up their illegal activity by passing the diamonds off to consumers at a jacked-up price.
    The accusation was absurd, completely and totally ludicrous. But that didn’t matter. Once it was out there, once the general public got hold of it, Bijoux’s brand would be annihilated and everything he and Marc had worked so hard for would be destroyed right along with it.
    There was no way he would let that happen. Not to his brother, not to his employees and not to the family business he’d worked so many long, hard hours to develop. If the
Los Angeles
Times
really wanted to pick a fight with him, then it’d better come at him with everything it had. Because he was about to make it his life’s mission to bring those bastards down.

    “We have a problem.”
    His brother looked up as Nic blew right past Marc’s assistant and entered his office with a slam of his door.
    “What’s going on?” Marc